1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of plotters and, in particular, to a media loader for a plotter which enables a wide, large diameter media roll to be easily loaded onto and unloaded from its support brackets within a plotter housing.
2. Description of Related Art
As plotters have become more sophisticated in their ability to transport media quickly for continuous multipen plots and also to run unattended for considerable periods of time, the rolls of media used in the plotting process have become wider, greater in diameter and heavier, thus making it more difficult to manually insert such rolls into the narrow confines of the plotter housing. In addition, the bulky rolls must be carefully and precisely lowered onto the support brackets within the plotter housing, which brackets are generally located very close to the side walls of the plotter housing and surrounded by numerous alignment and feed devices. While prior art devices for loading media rolls, such as the hoisting bar and hook arrangement shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,286, issued Oct. 28, 1980, entitled "Core Holder for Reeling", are satisfactory for loading very large jumbo or parent rolls 5 feet in diameter and 5 to 10 axial feet in length onto exposed unwind stands, they have proven inadequate for use in inserting media rolls into the narrow confines of a commercial plotter.
Thus, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved media loader for a plotter.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved media loader for a plotter which enables the media roll to be precisely lowered onto the support brackets within the plotter housing.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved media loader for a plotter which can remain secured to the media roll within the plotter and then used to remove the core which supported the media.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved media loader for a plotter which is lightweight, compact and inexpensive.